The Letter
by Queen of Spiritual
Summary: Barney gets a letter in the mail. It is from Ralph Furley, a landlord in Los Angeles. The thing is, Ralph Furley doesn't live in the 1960s. Ralph has been searching for relatives from his family tree and came across Barney and writes him and see if they could get together. How will their relationship work out?
1. Chapter 1

Early that Wednesday afternoon, Andy Taylor and Barney Fife said hello to their friend, Gomer Pyle. They both had given Gomer the sheriff's car for an oil change.

"This place hasn't been the same ever since Goober died. When he was here, it was always joking around. I miss that," Gomer said sadly.

Neither of the police officers said a word.

To change the subject, Barney said, "Just call us when you're done with the car."

"I will."

Gomer watched them leave. Once back at the sheriff's office, both friends saw the mail had just arrived.

Andy watched as Barney opened an envelope.

"Where did that one come from, Barney?"

"It was sent all the way from Los Angeles. I don't know anybody there."

He took out a letter.

"Looks like a letter to me," Andy replied.

"Of course it's a letter! What else would you think it is – a gas bill?"

"Who sent this letter?" Andy asked.

"It says Mr. Ralph Furley. I hope I pronounced the last name right," Barney told him.

Andy took a peek of Ralph's letter.

"Barney, check out the date."

"What's wrong with the date?"

"That's what I want you to check out."

So Barney did what Andy had just pointed out.

"It looks like this Ralph person got the date confused, Ange. Its date say nineteen eighty – four. It's not even 1984. It's still in the 1960s here in Mayberry," Barney said.

He saw Andy nod. He could tell Andy seemed to agree.

"What does the letter say?" Andy asked with interest.

"It says:

_Dear Mr. Fife,_

_My name is Ralph Furley. I happen to be a landlord out here in Los Angeles. For a very short time. I have been searching for some family members I have never known about until recently._

_I would very much be very interested in meeting you for the very first time. I would like to describe myself. I am somewhat looking a bit like you. I happen to come across your name and picture when I was trying to look for long – lost relatives such as you. I didn't at first paid much attention that you and I are in different time periods. I will writer again and see what works for both of us._

_Sincerely,_

_Ralph_

"Are you interested in meeting this long – lost family member who lives in the 1980s?" Andy asked.

"I really can't answer that, Ange. I would probably vote no, but I would like to see what happens when this Ralph character and I get involved in a certain time frame," Barney answered.


	2. Chapter 2

In Los Angeles, Ralph Furley was in apartment number 201. He had just finished fixing the kitchen sink since it was a bit plugged up. Jack Tripper was the only one present and his other roommates, Janet Wood and Chrissie Snow were in town at work.

"Jack, you won't believe what I have been doing," Mr. Furley said as he took the plunger out from the sink.

"What happened?" Jack asked with interest.

"In the pass couple of months I have been searching in the past to see who else was part of my family tree. It's quite interesting too. Have you ever thought about doing this too?"

"I never really thought about that. How do you do your research on this whole family tree thing?" Jack asked.

"I don't know much about computers, Jack, but I've been on this one website that is pretty helpful."

"What is the name of the website? I never really learned to use a computer," Jack said, "but I do know about almost everything is on the computer these days."

"You are so right about that, Jack. The name of this helpful website is ancestry dot-com," Ralph told Jack.

"You mean that one website television keeps talking about?"

"That's right, Jack. I never really made an account to use that site."

"Is that against the law?" Jack asked.

"Of course not, Jack. Guests who don't have accounts can browse around."

"Oh," was all Jack could think of to say.

Jack did have another question to ask, so he went ahead.

"So this website you're using to find out who's in your family tree involving dead and alive people?" Jack asked, finding this subject very interesting.

"Well, Jack, the website gives out information on people who are no longer living, but it is interesting to typing your parents' names and see what happens."

"Next time you visit the website, can I come along?" Jack asked.

"Sure. Why not, Jack? You might learn a thing or two about these kind of machines. Since I don't own a computer, I only get a chance to se the library's."

"Oh, but I really show not much interests in computers."

"I understand that, Jack."

Just then, Chrissie walked into the kitchen and found Jack with Mr. Furley.

"Hi, guys. What's going on?" Chrissie asked.

She watched as Jack gave a high jump, unaware of Chrissie's arrival.

"Chrissie, when are you going to learn to stop scaring people like that?" Jack greeted his blonde roommate.

"Sorry," Chrissie apologized.


	3. Chapter 3

At lunch that afternoon, a few people were sitting with Andy and Barney.

"So, Barney, do you have anything new to share?" Gomer asked.

His glass was half empty with water. Their waiter came by and refilled it.

"Thank you," Gomer told the waiter.

"No problem, Gomer," was all he said.

"Actually, there is something new with Barney," Andy told their friends.

"Don't you dare answer questions for me, Ange. Just let me do it myself," Barney told Andy.

Andy didn't bother to say a word. Andy's only child, Opie wasn't with them since it was a school day.

"Tell, us, Barney," Floyd Lawson echoed.

"All right! I'll share this if everyone will stop."

"Sorry, Barn. We'll let you take from here," Andy said to his deputy.

"Okay, everyone. Andy already knows this, but I think you'll get a good laugh at this."

"Barney, did you bring that letter?" Andy asked.

"Ange, of course I did. It's right here," Barney told him as he took out Ralph's letter.

"Is it some sort of pen pal letters?" Floyd asked.

"No," Barney said.

Barney handed the letter to Gomer.

"So is there a picture of this person?" Floyd asked.

"Doesn't look like it," Barney answered.

"Wow!" Gomer said, looking at the date at the top of the letter.

"See why you would get a kick at this?" Barney asked.

"Sure I did," Gomer said.

"Let me see," Floyd said as he got closer so he could see.

"Wow, Barney. You got a letter from the future? The letter looks like it doesn't make sense," Gomer remarked.

"I know, Gomer. I don't know anyone who's from the future. I wonder how someone from 1984 who would send a letter to 1964?" Barney asked.

"Well, Barn, looks like you have a mystery to work on," Andy told him.

"It certainly looks like it. I'd like to see for myself how this mystery would come to an end," Barney said.

"Barney, you should see the letter isn't dated 1984. It is more of 2014," Gomer corrected.

"I guess you're right, Gomer. I didn't pay that close attention," Barney agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

A couple days later, Andy and Barney watched as the town drunk, Otis Campbell come in for the weekend. Andy and Barney were still talking about Ralph's letter. Otis was listening in on the conversation.

"What the heck are you talking about, Barney?" Otis asked, already interested in this kind of talk.

Barney told him.

"Wow. Are you actually going to be doing this?" Otis asked.

"This guy actually wants to meet in person," Barney answered, "so I guess I will just have to wait and see."

"This should be interesting – a family member living in the future coming to Mayberry in the sixties. I want to see this for myself," Otis said.

"Otis, the whole town of Mayberry wants to see this," Andy said, "and so do I."

"What was the date when the letter was sent?" Otis asked with curiosity.

"I read the date in the eighties, Otis, but Gomer and Floyd saw the date as 2014," Barney told him.

"Holy cow! We have a long time to get there," Otis said with surprise.

"You better believe it," Barney said as the phone began to ring.

Both Barney and Otis watched Andy pick up the telephone.

"Sheriff's office," Andy greeted the caller.

He listened to the caller for a minute, then they hung up.

"Barney, you stay here with Otis. It was Opie's school, saying he got sick," Andy said as he stood up to leave the office.

"Sorry to hear that, Ange. I'll stay with Otis."

By that time, Andy had already left.

"So are you going to call up or write this person who found out about you, Barney?" Otis asked.

"I guess I'll have to, Otis. Andy thinks I have a mystery to work on," Barney answered.

"It does look like it, Barney. I do agree with Andy," Otis said.

Otis wasn't finished talking quite yet.

"Barney, while we're still on the subject, have you started writing to this person about your decision?"

"I started it last night, but I didn't get too far," Barney answered.

"Did you bring your letter here today so you could work on sending it to the character who wrote a 2014 letter here to Mayberry? Boy, strange things have been happening here in Mayberry lately," Otis said while he shook his head.

Barney answered, "Yeah, I did bring my letter with me this morning, Otis, but we'll just have to wait and see how busy Andy and I get."

"Well, that makes sense. Why dont' you share what you've got so far?" Otis asked.

"Not yet. I have only three lines of it," Barney told Otis.

"Oh," was all Otis said.

Andy came back to the office and sat down at his desk.

"So, how's Opie doing?" Barney asked.

"He's doing a bit better, Barney. It looks like he'll have to stay home from school tomorrow," Andy answered.

"That's a shame, Ange. You didn't miss much of anything while you were gone."

"I know I haven't," Andy said.

"Barney bought along the letter that's going to be sent to the future, Andy. He won't even share what he has written," Otis told Andy.

"Maybe he doesn't want to share with us, Otis," Andy replied.

"Andy's right, Otis. You can forget about it for now," Barney said, agreeing to what Andy had just pointed out.

"Darn," Otis said.

Maybe once Andy and Barney would leave for patrol, Otis thought he could look at Barney's letter to Ralph Furley. Maybe by now, he hoped he wouldn't get caught from Andy or Barney about his reading the beginning of Barney's letter. _'Wow, this should be interesting,' _Otis thought to himself. Otis laughed.

"Mayberry is all about the secrets. Can't anyone give me time to myself with wanting to know what goes on with my life?" Barney asked out loud.

"It doesn't look that way," Andy answered.

Barney wished Ralph's letter never came here to Mayberry, but it showed up unexpectedly.


	5. Chapter 5

A week later, Janet took a walk on her way back to the apartment. Sure enough, the mail was already there. She saw an envelope that was addressed to Ralph Furley.

"Why would Mr. Furley's mail get mixed up in our mail?" she asked aloud.

This she'd have to find out for herself. After slamming the mailbox, Janet walked up to 201 with the mail in her hands.

When she walked in, she saw Larry and Jack sitting on the couch. Her guess was that they were talking about girls. As Janet slammed the apartment door, Jack and Larry greeted her.

"Hello, Larry and Jack. The mail just came in," Janet told them.

"Anything for me?" Jack asked.

"No, Jack. It's mostly junk and bills. Here's a letter to Mr. Furley."

"How did Mr. Furley's mail get mixed up with ours?" Jack asked, standing by his roommate.

Sure enough, Janet wasn't joking about the envelope addressed to Mr. Furley.

"This is strange," Larry said.

Larry read the name of the person who sent the letter.

"Barney Fife from Mayberry, North Carolina? Who is this Barney and where is the heck is Mayberry?" Larry asked.

"Good question, Larry. Could this be the letter Mr. Furley was talking about?" Jack asked.

When Jack had finished asking his question, Chrissie entered the living room.

"Hi, guys. What are you doing?" Chrissie asked.

"Looking at this," Larry answered by pointing Barney's letter.

"Who is that?" Chrissie asked.

She watched as everyone in the room shake their heads and shrugging.

"Do you think I should deliver this downstairs to Mr. Furley?" Chrissie asked.

"That would be nice. Maybe one of us should leave a note to the mailman," Janet replied.

"Good idea," Larry agreed.

When Larry finished talking, Janet handed Chrissie the envelope.

"There you go, Chrissie. At least Mr. Furley would appreciate getting this mysterious letter," Janet told her.

The three watched as Chrissie headed out of the apartment. It took Chrissie a few seconds to walk to Mr. Furley's place. She knocked a couple of times and Mr. Furley answered the door.

"Oh, hello, Chrissie. Why don't you come on in?" he said.

"Thanks, Mr. Furley. I have something for you," she replied.

"What is it?" he asked.

"This," Chrissie said, handing her landlord the envelope.

"Thank you, Chrissie. I was going out to collect my mail," he told her.

"Looks like Janet beat you to it," Chrissie told him.

"You're saying you already picked up my mail for me?" he asked.

"Well, sort of. Janet said this letter got mixed up with our mail."

"I guess that happens to everybody. Thank you for handing it over," he told Chrissie.

"You are welcome," she said.

"I'll drop by later," he said.

"Okay. I'll let the others know," Chrissie said and headed back to her apartment.


	6. Chapter 6

A week or so later, Mr. Furley had shown up at Jack's apartment.

"Jack, I got a letter from the person I wrote to in North Carolina," Mr. Furley said.

"Have you opened it yet?" Jack asked his landlord.

"Not yet," Mr. Furley answered.

"While you're here, why don't you open it so we can hear what he has to say?" Janet asked.

Chrissie was also there. They watched as he opened the envelope.

"What's the date on the envelope?" Chrissie asked.

Before unfolding the letter, he looked at the date.

"1964," he answered.

"1964? That makes no sense at all," Jack said as he saw the girls nod their heads.

"I know what you're getting at, Jack. A lot of people live in different times," he said.

Janet did agree with Mr. Furley.

When she finished agreeing, she said, "You can read your letter now, Mr. Furley."

"Okay. Here's what it says:

_Dear Mr. Furley,_

_I received your letter. I shared it with a few of my friends. They are surprised about the era you live in. I do know Mayberry in the future will be like since you have better options of technology and all that._

_My friends and I would like to know how you happened to find me. I haven't had much of an interest to family history. I hope you get the letter all right and Mayberry hopes to hear from you soon._

_Sincerely, _

_Barney Fife_

"Wow. How did he know we have better options in technology?" Jack asked.

He'd found Barney's letter very interesting, and so did Chrissie and Janet.

"Well, for one thing, we have better choices of channels for television. Back in the fifties, you didn't get many choices of shows you wanted," Mr. Furley answered.

"That's right," Janet said.

"Money is also another example," Chrissie said.

"I'll write back and answer his questions," Mr. Furley said.

"Good idea. While we're still on topic about this Barney person, why don't you share with us what he looks like?" Chrissie asked.

"You will another time, but not today," he answered.

"When you came across that one website, how did you know who he was?" Chrissie asked.

"My mother showed some interest in family history. I thought I'd give a look at it for myself and see what luck I would get," Mr. Furley said.

"And look at the information you found," Janet pointed out.

Jack and Chrissie agreed.

"do you think you'd use a time machine and meet this Barney?" Jack asked.

"You got to be joking, Jack, and I don't want to do that!" Mr. Furley exclaimed.


	7. Chapter 7

Later Barney and Andy recently collected the mail at the sheriff's office. Andy saw there was something from Ralph Furley.

"Here's one for you, Barney," Andy said.

Barney stood next to Andy and took the letter. Then Barney saw who had sent the envelope.

"Open it and see what this Ralph character has to say this week," Andy said to his deputy.

He watched as Barney opened the envelope. Barney began to unfold the letter when something small fell on the floor. Andy bent down to pick it up.

"Thanks, Andy," Barney said.

He began to read that week's letter.

"Here's what it says, Andy:

_'Dear Barney, _

_I have noticed in our last conversations, we never described ourselves. Here's a picture of me. I hope you and the sheriff in Mayberry don't get too busy with catching those bad guys and lock them up.'_

Barney stopped reading for a minute or so.

"I guess that landlord didn't quite figure out Mayberry was a small town," Barney told Andy.

"Did you tell him that?" Andy asked.

"No, I didn't, Ange. I thought he would've figured this one out for himself," Barney answered.

Andy didn't say anything about that. Then Barney covered his mouth in surprise. Andy watched Barney take his left arm away from his mouth.

"What is it, Barney?" Andy asked.

"Take a look at this picture," Barney said so Andy could have a closer look.

Andy laughed and said, "Barn, he looks just like you."

"It sure looks like it."

"Did you send a picture of yourself yet?" Andy asked.

"Of course I did. Here's what else he says about this," Barney said as he picked up the place where he left off.

'I did see the picture you sent, Barney. It does sound crazy that we could have been twins if there wasn't an age difference. I did sound a bit shocked to see you were a younger version of me. Ha, ha. I'm sure you'd be shocked about my picture. Well, Barney, I have to leave for now. It was nice meeting you and hope we can do this more often. Ralph

"He was right about my being shocked, wasn't he?" Barney asked.

"Yes, he was," Andy told him.

"I'll tell you one thing, Ange. This sure is one interesting relationship."


End file.
